Consortium completes financing for Bujagali

25 July 2018


A consortium of development finance institutions and commercial lenders have completed the refinancing of more than $400 million loans of Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL), owner of the 250MW Bugali hydropower project in Uganda. 

The financiers include IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, African Development Bank (Joint Mandated Lead Arrangers), Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), France’s Proparco, Germany’s DEG, UK’s CDC and two commercial banks: ABSA and Nedbank. The refinancing package will extend the tenor of the bulk of the senior and subordinated loans originally provided in 2007.

Bujagali, a run-of-river hydropower project on the Victoria Nile, is one of the largest power generation plants in Uganda, contributing 45% of the country’s annual electricity generation. Its commissioning in 2012 significantly reduced Uganda’s reliance on costlier thermal power generation.

This extension in tenor will reduce BEL’s annual debt servicing payments and make it possible for the company to reduce the cost of electricity produced by the hydropower plant over the next five years. This was an innovative approach and one of the first to be implement in Sub Saharan Africa in which the Ugandan government has committed to fully pass on these cost savings to consumers, in support of its goals to spur economic growth in the country, a statement from the IFC said.

The project has support from across the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank. As previously announced, MIGA’s Board approved political risk guarantees of up to 20 years for equity investors in Bujagali Energy Limited, helping to shore up investor support and long-term engagement with the project. An existing partial risk guarantee from the International Development Association for two of the project’s commercial lenders remains in place.

Alongside the original financing for BEL, African Development Bank’s public sector window financed a transmission line project at Bujagali, the UECTL Bujagali Interconnection Project. The project, which links the Bujagali hydropower plant to the national electric grid, consisted of: construction of part of the Bujagali substation; construction of the Kawanda substation; extension of Mutundwe substation; social and environmental measures; consultancy services; and financing for a Community Development Action Plan.

 



Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.